$29 IKEA Desk + Funeral = ?

The desire to start writing again.  Finally.

My last post was in September.  Going on 6 months now.  Where have I been?  Mostly here in Guelph, Ontario.  Where have I not been?  In any mood whatsoever to write.  Not on this blog or on my book or on anything for that matter other than trivial emails, text messages, and notes to my kids on our family’s communication central (read: a dry-erase white board in the kitchen).  It’s been so long I can barely find my way around WordPress anymore haha.  Maybe I should sign up for another go at Blogging 101.  Note to file.

What changed?

I Accepted The Invitation

Today’s Daily Prompt asks what kind of legacy we wish to leave on the world.  In short, I hope to have accepted “The Invitation” by Oriah.  My responses to each stanza of the poem are indented and bold, just like me.

---

 

The Invitation by Oriah

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.  I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

I ache to raise my children to be whoever they wish to be, to share kindness and gratitude with the world, and to write.  Truth and dare accepted.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.  I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

I have been and will be the fool for all, to all. 

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon.  I want to know if you have touched the centre of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain.

I have been at the naval of my own grief and unlocked truth through treason’s seduction.  When fear withers me, I use faith and others to cultivate me back to strength and courage.

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it.

I can meditate with anguish, alone or in your company, in stillness, silence, and surrender.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own;  if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, remember the limitations of being human.

I can share happiness with my soul and yours;  I can tango in spontaneity from my head to my toes while singing a proposition to join me and “shut up and dance”.